Laura Ashley (7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s.She later expanded into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. The Laura Ashley style is characterized by Romantic English designs—often with a 19th-century rural feel—and the use of natural fabrics.

Sir Bernard Albert Ashley (11 August 1926 – 14 February 2009) was an English businessman and engineer. He was the husband of Laura Ashley, and was her business partner from the founding of their fashion-textiles-centred business. An engineer with a love of trains, planes and boats, Ashley was often portrayed in the media as a businessman instead of a designer — but he had a huge love of colour and design.He had interests in Laura Ashley Holdings and the country-house hotel Llangoed Hall. Ranked 796th richest person in the UK with a fortune of £60m in fashion and hotels by the Sunday Times Rich List. He lived mainly in Brussels, but had houses in Hay-on-Wye and France.